Is a Jackery ever the best solution?

[rvwandering]

I know that they are expensive for what you get but I'm thinking of a situation where a nomad is starting out in a car or small vehicle and has low electrical needs. Someone who doesn't want a complete build, has limited solar experience, and may be moving to a different vehicle in the future. The simplicity of a Jackery seems ideal to me but I may be missing something. 

 Pro? Cons? Do you one and love it or hate it? 

 This is the one that I'm considering -Jackery Portable Power Station Explorer 300 - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B...MBYR6&linkId=737dead6b42af4b88331f27675e3f8eb

with this panel- Jackery SolarSaga 100W Portable Solar Panel - https://www.amazon.com/Jackery-Sola...NE7FCB01MVS&psc=1&refRID=PHHR3V8ZHNE7FCB01MVS

 

[user 423]

For some situations they would be fine. If they are reliable and have a decent usable life, then you could sell it to someone else when you wanted to upgrade. The panel is ready to go and the folding feature is nice but the price is a bit steep IMO.

The small 12V fridge I bought was a low cost experiment. I knew it might not be as reliable or as efficient as some of the well known brands but the $200 price was right. The experiment told me that it worked well over two hot summers and seems to be reliable but it also proved to be too small. So I will be upgrading to a larger model and will sell the small one to a newbie when I get a chance.

 

[Camper]

You need to see this video from CheapRVliving on the Jackery units:

 

[bullfrog]

The problems seem to be what happens when a component fails and will it really be enough power? I have used minimal solar along with the Ryobi 18 volt big 9 amp hour batteries that I already had for my tools which I charge with a 12 volt Ryobi charger ( used while driving or attached to solar ) and they now have a battery powered inverter with USB ports as well. If you were to buy all the Ryobi stuff at once I believe it would be the same or less than the Jackery even if you supplemented the system with an additional small battery. I have used one of the larger Goal Zeros and did not like it because of the space and weight. Really recharging it took too long for me with the supplied solar. For an additional battery I sometimes use my jumper pack as well. The Jackery is simple but seems sort of a stop gap solution till something breaks or goes bad to me. Pretty much everything I have has multiple uses even the portable solar.

 

[Tony's Dream]

I bought a Jackery for my van, but I don't "live" in my van. I am a van traveler and plan to be on the road a lot, with my van being my motel room. I use it for small items.....phone, wifi speaker, small water pump for my 5 gallon water jug, head lamp, low wattage fan, ect. All of these items are recharegable and I use my Jackery to recharge them when needed. I mainly recharge things in my van USB plug as I travel so it's more or less a back up. I can also recharge my Jackery using the cigarette plug while I am traveling. I might upgrade to using the solar charger, but it's a little pricey...IMO.

 

[mpruet]

I used a Jackery when I was car camping in my Prius.  I had a fridge which I wanted to keep powered when I was away from my rig.  Initially I had a separate charger which worked from the cigarette lighter plug, a deep cycle battery, and an inverter.  I decided that took way too much space, so got a Jackery 500 so I could consolidate my ‘buffer battery’.  

In my RV I carry a Jackery 1000 because I need to run my Instant Pot when on the road and don’t want to have to run the generator.  Oh I could upgrade my battery bank and get a pure sine inverter.  But I want to size my power stuff by what my basic needs and the Instant Pot is an exception to my basic needs as I only use it maybe once a week.  So I store up energy in the Jackery and then use it occasionally.

 

[rvwandering]

Thanks for the replies. I did watch Bob's video when he posted it and he makes it seem like the Jackery is done after 500 cycles however this is the information I'm finding elsewhere:

"The battery is good for 500 life cycles to 80%. A single cycle of the battery means when it goes from 100% down to 0% and then charged back to 100%. If you are running your battery down to 50% and back to 100%, then that 500 life cycles is actually 1000 half-cycles. And even after that, the battery still functions at 80% efficiency meaning you still have an effective unit. Don’t get hung up on the lifecycles." Link

Mostly I'm looking at quick and easy - no need to buy a battery, pay to get the system installed, then tear it apart if a new vehicle is purchased. Is the expense for the ease of use worth it?

 

[Camper]

A good quality 100-watt solar panel on Amazon is $72 with free shipping. I built my solar system one piece at a time and it works well for me.

 

[bullfrog]

It is probably like most things today, it is till it isn’t. If it breaks or doesn’t work it is done. There are lots of videos on how to make a similar portable system for less money that you can somewhat repair when it does break. The more important question is do you want to spend more of your money on something you could make for less that might last longer or expand if you need more power for less money? After all this is “cheap RV living”. Escapees site might have a different bunch of opinions. Lol !!!

 

[MrAlvinDude]

Mostly I'm looking at quick and easy - no need to buy a battery, pay to get the system installed, then tear it apart if a new vehicle is purchased. Is the expense for the ease of use worth it?

Well, this is actually a very individual question.

To many people, the extra cost, of the easy of use (and no need to fiddle with wires, fuses etc. in order to connect the individual components), is obviously quite well worth the extra cost, to them.

I think you need to make your own pro/con list. Here are some general considerations:

Pro:
- very compact
- lithium battery technology - no need to re-charge as soon as possible
- light weight
- works - out of the box. No need to connect components.
- no system installation necessary
- built-in management - that is easy to read, operate and understand
- no need to obsess about 'use only 50% power'
- very easy to move energy to the location/vehicle where you need energy.


Con:
- if one part breaks, that part can not be fixed.
- no option to expand capacity
- no option to increase the power of the inverter
- higher cost - but only compared to people who can combine, connect and install a system themselves


Do you feel that you agree with these suggested pro/con items?

Other items you need to add to the pro/con list?
If you were to give each item points, how would you then sum up the pro/con list?

 

[Allan1958]

So far I am happy with the Jackery 500. I am not a full time nomad and have minimal electrical needs. I just want to be able to recharge my laptop and when the weather gets warmer to run the roof fan.

 

[Camper]

For part time use I think it is fine, but I would not want to depend on one 24/7.

 

[user 37446]

It is probably like most things today, it is till it isn’t. If it breaks or doesn’t work it is done. There are lots of videos on how to make a similar portable system for less money that you can somewhat repair when it does break. The more important question is do you want to spend more of your money on something you could make for less that might last longer or expand if you need more power for less money? After all this is “cheap RV living”. Escapees site might have a different bunch of opinions. Lol !!!

Will Prowse has a version 1.0 that's ridiculously easy to build and you could fix/repair any part of it, plus a much greater capacity however it doesn't have the "cool" factor.

 

[user 37446]

I bought a Jackery for my van, but I don't "live" in my van.  I am a van traveler and plan to be on the road a lot, with my van being my motel room.  I use it for small items.....phone, wifi speaker, small water pump for my 5 gallon water jug, head lamp, low wattage fan, ect.  All of these items are recharegable and I use my Jackery to recharge them when needed.  I mainly recharge things in my van USB plug as I travel so it's more or less a back up.  I can also recharge my Jackery using the cigarette plug while I am traveling.  I might upgrade to using the solar charger, but it's a little pricey...IMO.

Me either. I part time in a CUV, mostly weekend outings.

I cheap out with two (2) Harbor Freight 3 in 1 jump packs, which are about $44 each on sale and have a 17 AH sealed lead acid battery with usb and 12v plugs. They can recharge via a 12v male to male plug or regular ac, but not solar. And of course you can jumpstart your engine if needed, something the Jackery doesn't offer.

I use a 300 watt Bestek PSW ($46) inverter that can be ciggy plugged or wired to the starting battery (for more than 150 watt draw). Works fine and isn't as costly or "cool".

 

[rvwandering]

..I think you need to make your own pro/con list. Here are some general considerations:

Pro:
- very compact
- lithium battery technology - no need to re-charge as soon as possible
- light weight
- works - out of the box. No need to connect components.
- no system installation necessary
- built-in management - that is easy to read, operate and understand
- no need to obsess about 'use only 50% power'
- very easy to move energy to the location/vehicle where you need energy.


Con:
- if one part breaks, that part can not be fixed.
- no option to expand capacity
- no option to increase the power of the inverter
- higher cost - but only compared to people who can combine, connect and install a system themselves


Do you feel that you agree with these suggested pro/con items?

Other items you need to add to the pro/con list?
If you were to give each item points, how would you then sum up the pro/con list?

That's my problem. The pro and con sides of my brain are having a battle and neither side is winning. :-D  I'm going to think about this some more before I come to a conclusion.

I'm not asking for myself because we have an excellent solar system that we've built over the years. This is more of an information-gathering quest founded on my desire to help new nomads.
Thanks for all of the answers and input so far!

 

[abnorm]

Hiya Karen..........we've had our fair share of newcomer/visitors this past year.....Whatever brand the "Box"......they often have two complaints

The flimsy cords and the slow Solar charging........The cords we can fix....cut and (solder) splice and some heat shrink..."Bob's yer Uncle"

But the Solar panels....Your link $300 !!!!......for 100 watts of suitcase that has to be setup and monitored in the desert wind.....4.5 hrs for a full discharge

Jacqueg asked about a "Charging Station" .....Let's start with a SanTan Panel special....He started giving a batch to HOWA (Gilbert is near Phoenix).....there's a bunch of them out there....250 watts for a mere $50...That gets mounted to the vehicle.....no more load and unloading...KISS

..It's too big/powerful to plug directly into a "Box" so we need a small system......a good old AGM battery for a Storage/Buffer $200 .....a bit of wire/fuse......a voltmeter.....a ciggy plug and a cheap PMW solar controller......Add ring-terminal charging wire(s) with correct (8mm) tip(s)

Now she can charge the "Boxe(s)" anytime the Sun is shining......and carefully after hours

Any existing mobile panels can still be used directly plugged into the "Box" during the Sun.................For just over that $300 ?


It's still in the BETA stage

 

[AuricTech]

I just ordered a GOLABS 299 Wh LiFePO4 portable power station from Amazon for $199.98 (after a $100 online discount coupon). If you can hold off on ordering the Jackerty power station to which you linked, I'll have a preliminary review up next week.

 

[user 37446]

Please do review it. I see the Jackery as advantageous in that it has regulated 12v outlet(s), which if they can do it, why don't others copy it? Their newer 300 watt model now has MPPT now (fixed another issue finally). (Hobotech had a review of the new one.)

Pass-thru charging and usage is important as well as upping the amount of power to recharge.
Until these items are addressed in these misnamed solar generators, I won’t bother.

As someone else said, the reduction to 80% capacity after 500 cycles really isn't so bad. Bob W kinda mis-stated that as an objection in his latest Jackery video.

 

[gtinseth]

I just ordered a GOLABS 299 Wh LiFePO4 portable power station from Amazon for $199.98 (after a $100 online discount coupon). If you can hold off on ordering the Jackerty power station to which you linked, I'll have a preliminary review up next week.

This is only 25Ah at 12 V for a comparison. At 0.5C you can only pull 12 amps or so from it max and in 2 hours that would exhaust the battery. You can get a 100Ah LiFePO4 battery for less than double that. It's just such small capacity and such underpowered charging capability for so much money. Someone else recommended checking out Will Prowse's milk crate build that has much better components (solar charger, AC charger, inverter) and I agree. He builds it in the video using only a couple tools and wiring supplies he got a Walmart as a proof of concept. It is portable, 600Wh, and around $600. If you built your own battery from alibaba cells it would be closer to $400 for 1200Wh. 

But, you have to source the parts and build it yourself. That kind of stuff is fun for a lot of us. Maybe it is worth the extra money and loss of capability to just open a box and go. Not for me, but I try to leave no penny unpinched.

 

[shawn]

you can have a bit more check.
Except for the Jackery, there are some other brands to choose. Maybe you can have some digs on Amazon, there are many options for you.
I think the most important thing is to choose one station with suitable power for you, 100w, 200w, 500w, or 1000w etc.